I'm Just Sayin'

Inane Legislation

2009-09-21T09:36:00.002-04:00

The part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act regulating textbook orders for colleges and universities clearly shows the generational gap between our elected officials and our students and/or demonstrates the power of lobbying on behalf of major book distributors. According to the act, professors must now publicly post the required and supplemental reading materials for every course 3-4 months in advance of the semester, supposedly to give students ample opportunity to find cheap books.

First of all, it does not take students that long to find cheap books. See, there's this thing called the Internet that has really sped up shopping. Students normally get a syllabus the first day of class (or a week or so earlier if they are really eager) then they get online and hunt down the cheapest versions they can find. Really, it's just that simple. They do not need additional legislation to help them save money. They are well aware that every penny not spent on educational materials can be spent on their social lives. That is incentive enough to be frugal. Not to mention that fact that at Albany, at least, students change courses so many times before and during the start of the semester that they are not going to purchase any books until they've settled on their schedules.

Secondly, this law now forces faculty at my institution to place their orders at the official campus bookstore, run by one of the big book distributors (Barnes & Noble, I think), although many of us prefer to use the small, alternative bookstore because they are often cheaper and more efficient. Of course, we can still use the other bookstore, but we must use the campus one as well. That's a convenient way to create a monopoly.

Third, this law is entirely ignorant of the way faculty work to design and update courses. Even if I were super-organized and prepared my Spring 2010 syllabus by October 1, 2009, as is now required, it locks me into reading material that I may decide is not ideal by the time the semester starts in late January and it precludes me from adding new material that I may find in those four months, not to mention that it takes time away from my obligations for the current semester. Reading selections are very time consuming and we're now sacrificing quality of education for ... what, exactly?

You Know You're Old When

2009-09-06T04:37:00.000-04:00

You can no longer pull an all-nighter. I'm on my way to the European criminology conference in Slovenia via Amsterdam & Budapest. I had a long layover in Amsterdam so I took the train into town to do some sightseeing. That was between 1-4 am my time and I could barely function. I wandered around taking pictures but all I wanted to do was sleep. 20 yrs ago I would have loved watching Amsterdam wake up but today I found it hard to care. Not to mention the fact that Amsterdam smells like San Francisco (ie, like piss) so I wasn't exactly impressed. I'll return for a full day on my way back so maybe with a little sleep I'll see a different side of the city.

The Fate of the Blog

2009-09-05T14:26:00.001-04:00

I've taken an unexpectedly long break from the blog. I wondered if I'd write here anymore after I got sucked into the weird world of Facebook, but I've been missing my little piece of cyberspace quite a bit lately. Since I'm going to be killing a lot of time at airports over the next 24 hours, this will be a nice distraction. This is also my first blog post from the Blackberry and it's becoming painfully clear that I am not a texter. More to come ...

Kids Say the Darndest Things

2009-04-25T12:23:00.002-04:00

How can I visit my niece and not write about her latest insights on the world? Now that she's 6 we've moved to more logical and nuanced conversations. It's pretty interesting. My favorite snippets from last weekend:

Ciocia: Abby, I have to go to a conference for work for a few hours and then we can play later this afternoon. Do you know what a conference is?
Abby (in her best "answering a question by the teacher" voice): A conference is when the professors get together in a big room and talk about their students -- which ones were good and which were bad.
Abby (as I'm leaving for the conference): I sure hope all of your students are good.
Cicocia: Me too!
(They weren't, but they also weren't my students!)

-------------
As I'm getting ready to head back home, my suitcase is near the door next to her backpack. She tries to pick up the suitcase, but can't.

Abby: Ciocia, I know why your suitcase it so heavy?
Ciocia: Oh yeah? Why's that?
Abby: Because it's filled with all of your tears from missing me so much!

---------------
Abby's struggling with being a good sport while playing competitive games, like the Wii. We had a tough love conversation about being a gracious winner and loser, which she was resisting with all her might. After a series of "whys" after all of my words of wisdom, I ran out of answers and said:

Ciocia: Because it will make you a better person.
Abby (with pouty cheeks and tears): But I don't want to be a better person!!
(At which point I had to give up because I started laughing.)

Suffering from Severe Flakiness

2009-03-28T13:30:00.002-04:00

I have no idea what has gotten into me lately, but I have been so unbelievably flaky these past few months that I am driving myself crazy! Ever since I returned from Europe, I have been forgetting things, losing things, neglecting things ... you name it. Thankfully, none of this has been related to work or anything else really important. It's just been affecting the little things. For example, in the past three months I have lost a ton of stuff -- my watch (a sentimental birthday gift from my mother), my favorite pair of earrings (a gift from Eddie), my sunglasses (for the umpteenth time), my web cam (which I eventually found right under my nose) ... and the list goes on. Just now I spent ten minutes turning my office upside down looking for my post-it flags. They were right under my nose -- in fact, sitting right next to my Diet Coke! Good grief! I really hope this is just a phase.

The Little Things Do Matter

2009-03-25T13:19:00.002-04:00

This is the semester for finishing up things. I will very happily be wrapping up two edited projects (and have vowed not to take on another one for a very, very, very long time). I am also trying to get several manuscripts out the door. I have papers that are anywhere from 40-80% completed that just need to be finished and submitted. The tenure clock is ticking, after all.

I have a very specific goal to finish up one of these manuscripts this week. It's very close to being done. So today is a full blown writing day. Nothing but this one manuscript on the agenda. No meetings. No class prep. No distractions. Or so I thought ...

A while ago I wrote about the importance of my writing totems. There are certain things that just make it easier for me to write and also let me really enjoy writing. One of the keys is the pen. The writing pen must be a medium, black, gel, rollerball with a rubber grip. After using up two pens this morning, I pulled out a brand new package of pens. They look like the right pens, but alas ... they are ultra fine. Ugh! They don't write in the same smooth way as my medium pens; instead they are hard and scratchy. I have still managed to write a lot today -- and have more to do yet -- but I feel so off kilter by something so seemingly trivial.

This Is a Lot of Work ...

2009-02-24T23:46:00.003-05:00

for a little nipple action:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/entertainment/2009/02/beyonce-had-war.html

Really, people, get a grip!

I Am NOT ....

2009-02-17T11:02:00.002-05:00

Your mother. Your high school English teacher. Your inspirational speaker/motivational coach/personal cheerleader. Your therapist.

I was one click away from posting this as a tag line in my email signature file, but an ounce of rationality beat out the flood of frustration in my brain and so I am posting it here instead. And, noooooo, it is NOT directed toward students. At least with students you can explain to them that professor does not mean any of the above roles. After a year of "collaborative" projects, I am going to gladly return to my hermit working mode this summer. (That is, if I survive until then without committing academic suicide.)

Second Rate

2009-02-12T12:06:00.003-05:00

I do a lot of Xmas shopping at Borders and the biggest drawback is avoiding the impulse buy. Well, I never actually avoid it, but I do try to keep it at a minimum. The impulse buy is always something for me, which is not the point of Xmas shopping, so I already feel guilty about that. It is also truly an impulse buy -- the type of thing I wouldn't normally buy myself on a planned trip to Borders.

This year's impulse buy was particularly bad. Borders had a huge display for the Twilight series. I'd been thinking of reading the first book just to stay in the cultural loop and to keep up with the tweens in the family, but instead I bought the entire four-book series. Book 1 was entertaining. I could certainly see the appeal for the young-uns, but it was also interesting enough to get me through the whole thing. Well, it was a downhill slope after that. Of course, since I bought the series I am forcing myself to read the whole thing. I finished book 3 in Croatia with the help of two 10-hour flights. I have been reading book 4 for a month now -- a month! I have about 100 pages left and it is almost torture to finish it. I refuse to let it go because this is obviously punishment for the impulse buy.

Aside from my stupid decision to buy the entire series, I'm even more annoyed by the comparisons between this author, Stephanie Meyers, and J.K. Rowling. Meyers has sold a gazillion copies of these books (thanks, in part, to me) so she's being hailed as the new queen of tweens. But the comparison is so unfair! Sales aside, Meyers isn't nearly the accomplished writer that Rowling is. Her character development is weak. Her plot development is trite. And, frankly, much of her writing is boring. Most irritating is the fact that I feel very "old" reading Twilight. Aside from the first Harry Potter book, I didn't feel that way reading the rest of that series. One of Rowling's gifts is her ability to write a series for children and tweens that can also be enjoyed by adults. There are layers to her stories and complexity in her writing that make her books hard to put down. With Meyers, I can't wait to be done with them! Speaking of which, after reading my rave review, if you'd like my books let me know and I'll be happy to send them along to you.

Sorry Just Isn't Enough

2009-02-10T09:03:00.002-05:00

I was going to write a post about the Superbowl last week that explained why I couldn't get too excited about it. I'm a huge football fan, but professional football has become so obnoxious that I really just prefer to watch the college games. Considering the amount of money the players make and the esteem awarded them, pro football players are incredibly arrogant, unsportsmanlike, non-athletic, and occasionally downright stupid (e.g., unlocked-gun-in-the sweatpants kind of stupid). Then I got too depressed about how these idiots were ruining a great sport to actually write the post.

And now, stupidity and arrogance are ruining another great American sport. First of all, is anyone really surpirsed that A-Rod used(s) steroids? Find me a great pro baseball player who hasn't. Second, when are we going to force these overpaid, spoiled brats to actually be accountable for their actions? A-Rod's public apology was certainly a better way to handle the scandal than Bonds did, but it's just not enough. It's not simply a matter of bad decision-making. These guys are ruining a great sport and an even greater American tradition. When are we going to say enough?! The fans need to start demanding tougher sanctions against these guys, and some sacrifice in short-term entertainment, if anything is going to change. Stop buying the fan crap. Stop attending games. Stop watching them on tv. Just stop supporting a sport that has treated its fans so poorly until things really start to change.

A Cloud to Every Silver Lining

2009-01-27T12:25:00.002-05:00

If I were a survivor of the USAirways Hudson River crash, I would be happy to be alive. Period. End of story. Apparently, that's not enough for some people:

US Airways passengers get $5,000 each; is it enough?

If it turns out the airline was negligent in some way, then perhaps additional compensation would be reasonable; but that doesn't seem to be the case. Anyone who complains about their $5k should have to forfeit their money to the flight crew. Honestly, people!

Right Under My Nose

2009-01-27T08:27:00.003-05:00

As I was searching for something distinctively Croatian during my trip, the day before I left I realized that it was right under my nose. Vegeta is a spice & dried vegetable mix, typically used in soups and other things in place of salt. I've been using it for years and I love the stuff. I've always bought it at the Polish market, so I assumed it was Polish only to find out that it is actually Croatian. In fact, the parent company is the largest manufacturer in Croatia.

I also remembered one of the rare moments in Croatia when I was actually quite surprised by something. The university cafeteria, which offered really good meals at very cheap prices, served squid one day. I didn't even recognize what it was. Luckily I asked before taking it since I am not a seafood lover. I don't think you'd ever see squid served in an American cafeteria.

Shits & Giggles

2009-01-26T08:18:00.002-05:00

A new semester has begun. After a great winter break, I was looking forward to my old routine and to returning to the classroom. I was actually starting to miss my students. And then just to question my sentimental judgment, after the first day of class I got the first of many student emails that just make me say "huh."

A student was explaining to me that he might have to drop my class because it didn't meet the requirements that he thought he needed for graduation and, really, there was no point in just taking my class for "shits and giggles." Yup, his words exactly. I don't know when I'm ever going to get used to the casualness of students' interactions with professors. I'm not offended by the language, but I'm dismayed at the thought that a student was typing this message and had no filters whatsoever about the language that he should be using in professional communications. He took the time to send me a completely unnecessary email (since my class is an elective, students can drop/add at their will) but he didn't think for a second about the best way to communicate that message. [sigh] The dismay begins to creep in already ...

It's Not Albania , But ...

2009-01-11T06:09:00.004-05:00

My first blog post, over two years ago, was about my desire to return to Eastern Europe, particularly the Balkans. While it took me longer than expected, I have finally achieved that goal. I haven't made it to Albania yet, mostly because I would be unlikely to get any research done there for a variety of reasons, but I'm close (at least close from an American perspective). I've spent all of the new year so far in Zagreb, Croatia, formerly part of Yugoslavia.

I planned to stay here for three weeks, because I thought it would take me a while to navigate the city, communicate with people, establish research contacts, learn about Croatia, etc. What I found after two days here is that Croatia, or at least Zagreb, is a surprisingly easy place to visit. It's a compact city with great public transportation; a large number of the people of all ages speak at least some English; and it is unbelievably cosmopolitan. I expected it to be a tourist-friendly city, given that it is the country's capital, but it's much more ... European, Western, globalized than I anticipated. In fact, I am not only having a hard time describing the city, but the country as a whole.

When I've travel to other countries, I can usually get a sense of the society and culture fairly quickly. Each country -- whether Britian, Poland, Hungary, etc. -- has a certain flavor. After two weeks in Zagreb, I am struggling to define what that is for Croatia. I can't find examples of cultural things (clothes, food, architecture, customs, etc.) that seem distinctly Croatian. Yes, there is a European vibe here, but I can't identify the Croatian element. This might be easier to find if I weren't only in Zagreb and if I had deeper contacts with Croatians, but I've never had such a hard time identifying a culture as I am having now.

I wonder how much of this is due to globalization and how much is due to Croatia's efforts to be Western. The Balkans have historically had a reputation of being culturally and economically backwards from a Western perspective. Given Croatia's proximity to the West (just across the Adriatic Sea from Italy) and pending accession to the European Union, perhaps what I'm noticing is an attempt to shed it's war-torn past and fit in with Western Europe. And yet, it all seems so effortless. In Poland, for example, the attempts at Westernization in the 1990s were very blatant and self-conscious. Here, the feeling is not that people are trying to be European, but that they simply are. I wish I had been here a decade ago so I could tell how much of this feeling is new. I am now very curious to return to Poland to see if the same global vibe is there.

My Neglected Blog

2008-12-26T14:08:00.002-05:00

The fate of the blog had been up in the air for a while because I was feeling constrained about what I could write and I've been enjoying micro communications on Facebook more that I thought I would. But now I miss my blog. I'm going to be in Europe most of January, so I'm sure the blog will resurface at the very least as a travelogue.

In the meantime, my inane complaint of the day (which, for me, should really be a regular series) goes to Amazon. I'm changing most of the email notifications from different companies to reduce the amount of crap that I get. Amazon very politely sent me an email notification to inform me that I have canceled all of my email notifications. Are they trying to be annoying?

At the Margins

2008-12-06T10:28:00.003-05:00

I have an esteemed senior colleague, who I respect on a number of levels, who has colorful ways of describing various aspect of our jobs. One day, after an especially difficult meeting, he reminded me that we earn our paychecks "at the margins." There are so many aspects of our job that are truly enjoyable that we would probably do them even if we didn't get paid. So, we get paid for the tough cases; for the work "at the margins" that requires extra effort, extra guidance, extra patience, and extra careful decisions. The end of the semester is when the margins are stretched to their limits -- students who are not quite performing up to par, journal papers to review that should just be stamped "reject," but that require extra effort to be constructive about, articles that are not shaping up as you thought they would, people asking for extensions for any number of obligations, etc. At this point in the semester when non-academics think we are "on vacation," we are truly working hard for those paychecks.

Where Is the Evidence to Support This Claim?

2008-12-01T13:41:00.002-05:00

Since I've written that question about 1,000 times while grading papers over the last two days, I figured once more couldn't hurt. I'm going to create a macro in Word that will put that question in a comment at the click of a button so I don't have to actually type it out over and over and over again.

At the beginning of the semester I'm excited about assigning research papers to my undergrads. I have sound pedagogical reasons and a sense of moral superiority that I am not taking the easy route when it comes to grading. Then by the end of the semester when I'm reading their final papers my moral superiority turns into a nagging inferiority complex that I have taught my students nothing in the past three months.

If only I could add the following advice to my paper instructions next time around:

1. Don't quote movies. Hollywood writers are not criminologists.
2. Don't quote political pundits. Nope, they're not criminologists either.
3. The key ingredient of a research paper is ... research. Otherwise the assignment would be called "8 pages of drivel."
4. A research paper is also not the same as a NYTimes OpEd piece. Although if my students could write that well I'd probably still give them credit for the assignment.

I shouldn't be so negative about grading, but end-of-the-semester burnout doesn't help my attitude much. Instead I should focus on the successes. There are some well written papers in the pile. Some students actually did learn something from me. I also had two students from last semester's class recently win paper contests with the papers written for my class, which I'm very proud of. The problem is just that sometimes those needles are really hard to find in the haystack.

What Does It Take to Find a Radio Station Here?

2008-11-02T11:24:00.002-05:00

Seriously. I've never been thrilled with the radio options in "Small-bany," but lately they've been abysmal. I don't listen to the radio that much, but usually when I'm in my car driving short distances then I prefer to just listen to the radio. I've found a classic rock and a hip-hop station that are both fine for short periods. But for the life of me I can't find a decent rock, pop, alternative, top 40, whatever kind of station. The one that I used to find tolerable changed formats earlier this year to some kind of "adult mix" crap. Sometimes I'll find a good song or two there and then it'll switch to something unbearable, like Donna Summers or Shania Twain. Plus, they play the John Tesh show, which pushes me over the edge every time I hear it. His tagline is "Intelligence for Life" -- as opposed to what? I'm sorry, but it's pretty pathetic if you rely on John Tesh for your daily dose of intelligence.

Trick or Treat

2008-10-31T18:26:00.003-04:00

So here I am at 6:30 p.m. sitting with several bags of candy waiting for the kids to come. There's only been one so far, so it's kind of a slow night. I wonder if a recent, apparently random shooting of a college student in the area is making people nervous about going out.

In the meantime I'm catching up on the week's episodes of The Daily Show. I am unabashedly smitten with John Stewart. My favorite clip so far is the comparison of the McCain and Larry King interview with the two old, heckling muppets. Perfect!

The politician who is currently irritating me the most this week is surprisingly not Palin -- instead it's Ted Stevens. He keeps telling the media that he has not been convicted of anything. Ummm ... is he senile??? Just because you keep saying it, doesn't make it true. NPR interviewed several Alaskans who are still going to vote for Stevens even though he is a convicted felon and all I can say is -- Wow! Between those nuts and Palin's "leadership," I think it's safe to say that moving to Alaska is no longer an option for us.

Further Support of My Point

2008-10-10T16:57:00.002-04:00

Regarding how Americans should be better at "democracy" than we are. Check out this story from NY:

Barack "Osama" on Rensselear County Ballots.

Typo, my ass!

Snippets

2008-10-09T12:12:00.004-04:00

Random stuff on my mind:

Why is it that the "beacon of democracy," which also happens to be one of the wealthiest and most technologically sophisticated countries in the world, still struggles with basic voter registration issues? This doesn't exactly inspire confidence in our ability to ~~impose~~ spread democracy worldwide.

My new favorite Palin retort: Just because I can see the moon from my house doesn't make me an astronaut. (I lost the YouTube link to a funny Palin song using this line. (Update: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jltqTRmiVjg. Thanks, Hol!)

How long does it take for a new, enthusiastic Assistant Professor to lose all faith in her ability to actually teach her students something meaningful? I haven't given up hope yet, but with each round of "research" papers that I grade, my faith is diminishing.

I should start counting the number of times per week that I have to remind my students that they are adults. Perhaps after several months of data collection I can create a pretty graph to post on my door that would save me the trouble of actually having to say it.

I cannot bring myself to blog about the economy. It is simply too depressing.

MILF and Cookies?

2008-09-29T22:14:00.002-04:00

Just curious -- When did MILF slip into mainstream lingo? The WB website now streams online videos of many of its t.v. shows, both old and new. The advertisement on this site for The Gilmore Girls is "MILF and Cookies." I was a bit taken aback by such causal usage this term for a show that's pretty wholesome. (By the way ... is there a male counterpart to MILF or do we just assume that all men are fuckable regardless of progeny or age???)

One of These Things Is Not Like the Others

2008-09-29T09:14:00.004-04:00

I'm slightly disturbed by the fact that a Highlights activity has become a metaphor for my life. Last week I experienced a series of events that made it perfectly clear that the thing not like the others is me. I realize that I like to be contrary and fitting in has never been high on my priority list, but I have now reached a new level of "otherness" that is becoming rather uncomfortable and will need to be addressed in some serious fashion. Unfortunately, I can't blog about the details, despite the fact that some of these stories are amusing. (I really need to reconsider anonymous blogging.)

Or perhaps I am just feeling this way today because I am lightheaded from the asphalt fumes seeping into my office from the construction just outside my window. (Go ahead and mock me, former colleagues, for I have become the hedgehog!)

Boo-F'in-Hoo

2008-09-28T14:47:00.003-04:00

Poor Elliot Spitzer is angry. He's apparently misunderstood. His political legacy is being challenged by the new top dogs; the new NY governor doesn't associate with him much; and he has to work 9-to-5 like an average Joe. Yeah, my sympathy well is just overflowing for this guy. Obviously, in just six months Spitzer has "paid for his sins" and deserves the respect that his former position afforded him. Wow! How unbelievably arrogant! I doubt his wife has forgiven him yet, but apparently we're supposed to forget about he prostitution, corruption, embezzlement, etc. and remember him as a man of integrity who "would have" done great things for New York. I mean, as long as he says he's contrite, then why shouldn't be believe him?

Why I Love the NYTimes

2008-09-25T22:03:00.002-04:00

Because they write articles that reference people like Alexis de Tocqueville -- what more could a social scientist ask for?!? My favorite quote from this article about the flaws of American exceptionalism is:

"Palinism -- a philosophy delivered without a passport and with a view (on a clear day) of Russia."

The Class of 2012

2008-09-25T17:03:00.002-04:00

Although I have been eagerly awaiting the new Beloit College Mindset List, I have to say that this year's list didn't shock me as much as it normally does. Does that mean I'm still hip? (Probably not, just for using the expression hip.) Anyhow, these are the few things that I did find interesting about the generation born in 1990:

GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
Caller ID has always been available on phones. (And yet it's not available on my office phone!)
They have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show about “nothing.”
Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born. (OMG! I still remember Windows 3.0!!!)

Open Mic

2008-09-21T17:43:00.002-04:00

I generally like open mic nights. I used to appreciate them a lot when I worked in Ann Arbor. Albany doesn't have a lot of such events, but every once in a while you can stumble across one. Now finding a good one is another matter. I'm currently sitting at one of the local coffee houses where I like to work during off hours -- free internet, iced chai, a comfy couch -- not a bad place to be when you have to work on a Sunday evening. But tonight I stumbled upon a rather bad open mic evening. Two middle aged guys with guitars who can't sing especially well. And, of course, I forgot my headphones.

I can't understand much of what they're singing, because there's a lot of mumbling, but I swear that there have been at least two songs so far about dead mothers ... lovely. There was also a song about marriage that I don't think was terribly flattering, but again I can't understand much of what they're saying.

Now they are trying to harmonize. Wow -- it is not going well. I don't know how much longer I can sit here typing my sarcasm into the computer and still resist giving dirty looks or, better yet, singing tips! I seriously hope these guys have real jobs.

When Technology Dumbfounds People ...

2008-09-19T10:03:00.002-04:00

It leads to clogged email in-boxes! One of the professional groups that I belong to, which shall remain nameless, is so technologically challenged that it is pathetic. The group has a few hundred members and they have serious communication problems because they do not know how to leverage technology. And I'm not talking about anything sophisticated here!

They tried a web site. It was pretty simple, but it had some basic information. It hasn't been updated in about three years, despite constant newsletter announcements that it will be updated shortly. In my naive years I even offered to help update the website, but was told they already had someone to do it.

Then they tried a listserv about a year or two ago. I have no idea what happened to it. I don't believe I ever got a message through it.

And now ... a new listserv. I would like to point out that listservs have been around for well over a decade and they are pretty darn easy to use. It's just email, people. And yet ... Yesterday someone sends out a "test" message on the listserv. He wants to know if other people got his message. Said message goes out to about 400 people. Many of those kindhearted people decided to reply to the listserv to let the sender know that they received the important "test" message. (Sigh) Finally, the listserv administrator sends out a message reminding everyone that they are replying to all with their pointless messages, thereby clogging everyone's email. Nice. Thanks. I would have said so myself, but I wouldn't have been so polite.

So this morning I have a gazillion emails with the subject line "avoid cluttering the listserv" and everyone thanking the listserv administrator for reminding people not to clutter the listserv! Good grief! (If I were the listserv administrator I would delete all of those people.)

Divine Messages

2008-09-07T11:40:00.004-04:00

God to Sarah Palin: Send troops to Iraq to kill on my behalf.

God to Moses: Thou shalt not kill.

Hypocrisy? Hubris? It's amazing how someone could so casually manipulate religious teachings to suit a political agenda. (Don't even get me started on how God is requesting the pipeline in Alaska!)

Plea Bargain

2008-09-04T12:35:00.002-04:00

This morning the Detroit mayor finally pleaded guilty to felony charges in return for a reduced sentence. I don't think it's a bad deal, especially considering how much money would have been wasted if this had gone to court and how Detroit politics would be held hostage until this was resolved. I just hope that he actually serves real jail time (4 months) and not Paris Hilton jail time. Kilpatrick isn't allowed to run for office for the 5 years that he's on probation, but I suspect he'll become the next Marion Barry. (Although I hope not for Detroit's sake.)

You Gotta Love

2008-09-02T08:46:00.002-04:00

your friends who travel to Europe and buy you blog-related gifts! Apparently the faux kaffiyeh is all the rage in Paris.

Amusing

2008-08-31T14:34:00.003-04:00

A friend sent me this picture from somethingtoputhere.com. It not only looks like Daphne and Hershey, but it so accurately captures their dysfunctional relationship.

Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

2008-08-30T11:31:00.002-04:00

Billie Jean King was on NPR this week promoting her new book called Pressure is a Privilege and reminiscing about her classic "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match against Bobby Riggs, which she won 25 years ago. "Anything You Can Do" was the theme song for that event, nicely capturing the spirit of the gender divide at that time when women were first breaking into traditional male roles and having to prove that they could be physically and intellectually comparable to men, if not superior.

I haven't been able to get that song out of my head since McCain announced that Sarah Palin would be his running mate. But this time the song doesn't celebrate female accomplishment, but rather a manipulation of gender issues to (once again) further a man's career. Palin's nomination is a slap in the face to everything that women's movements have struggled to achieve for decades. Palin wasn't selected because of her qualifications for the job, she was a tool for McCain to flaunt to the Democrats that anything they can do, he and the Republicans can do better.

Regardless of the outcome, this presidential race has been the most fascinating that I can remember and full of historical precedence. We will break some kind of power barrier in the fall -- either by electing the first Black president of the U.S. or the first female VP. Either way, the outcome changes opportunity structures for future generations, and that should be celebrated.

And yet ... if it is the latter victory, it will be a hollow one. Putting aside the fact that I don't want to see another Republican presidency, the fact that the first female VP made it to that office as a token of a male agenda rather than on the strength of her qualifications is not a great stride for gender equality. The message that McCain is sending is that the American people would like to see a female on the ticket, and any woman will do. So he picked one that best suited his needs and his image. She's young and inexperienced, and therefore unlikely to challenge or overshadow him. She's pretty and dresses appropriately, therefore she'll look nice standing next to a visibly aging man. How can you question the vigor of a man when he has not one, but two pretty women on his side -- his trophy wife and his token running mate?

The true test for Palin, if she makes it to the White House, will be whether she can capitalize on her good fortune and truly become a strong leader or whether she will be content to take all of the credit for breaking through this glass ceiling without having earned it. I can't even imagine what Hillary Clinton must have felt when she learned of this news. Talk about kicking someone when they are down!

Inferiority Complex

2008-08-10T14:06:00.002-04:00

I only just watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics yesterday. As much as I love the Olympics, the ceremonies usually bore me. Well, not this time. What an amazing show! It was visually stunning, culturally relevant, technologically sophisticated, and politically astute. As I sat in awe watching one brilliant performance after another, I couldn't help feeling disconcerted. Despite the less fortunate aspects of the Olympics so for (Tibetan politics, air quality, and now the recent murder/suicide), China has effectively sent the world a message -- it's big, it's powerful, and it's back! The superpower tide is changing and while we have no recollection of China's glory days, I think we'll all look back on these Olympics as a turning point in history.

Wasted Potential

2008-08-07T13:18:00.004-04:00

When Kwame Kilpatrick first ran for mayor in 2001 he was the Obama of the Democratic Party at that time. At age 31 he epitomized hope for a city mired in social, economic, and political problems. He exuded confidence and leadership and, as many fallen politicians do, he touted his young children as the reason why he would conduct business ethically. A positive stint as mayor in Detroit could have launched him as a major contender in national politics.

[sigh] And then .. the thug-ocracy began. The abuses of power -- originally financial and then sexual -- led to numerous scandals over the past seven years. The most serious of which, perjury and obstruction of justice, will definitely end his career and may lead to prison time. For someone who was so proud of setting a positive example for his family, his behavior has been embarrassing, but his arrogance is unconscionable. Rather than resigning from his post when indicted of felony charges in the spring, he has pretended to "serve" the city while collecting his salary. Today he made national headlines yet again when he was sent to jail for violating his bond. I have a lot of respect for the judge who was willing to take a stand for the judicial process in a system that is highly corrupt and in a city where retaliatory violence is common.

Kilpatrick's response to his arrest was laughable: "I don't believe that there is a person that's ever been through this process that respects it more than I do." Funny coming from a man facing perjury charges who recently assaulted a police officer and has violated his bond conditions other times. Maybe one of his kids can explain to him what the word respect actually means.

Enchanted Was Not So Enchanting

2008-07-11T13:47:00.003-04:00

While my niece was visiting, she exposed me to her new favorite Disney movie, Enchanted. Sometimes I can sit back and enjoy these things for what they are -- mindless entertainment -- and sometimes I just can't turn off the sociologist in me. Yes, the movie was cute and somewhat original. The beautiful Princess Giselle gets banished by the wicked queen to New York City, where she turns from a cartoon into a real person. She's initially dismayed because she was supposed to marry Prince Charming (Edward) in cartoon land, but it turns out that she finds her true love in real-people land, so the wicked queen has inadvertently done her a favor. The transition between cartoon land and the real world was interesting and some of the supporting characters were fun. In particular, Pip the chipmunk was adorable and Susan Sarandon was delightfully wicked as the evil queen. But ...

In typical Disney fashion, this simple love story glosses over some serious moral dilemmas. The one that's really nagging me is the fact that the real-world true love, Robert, just so happens to be involved with another woman who he has been with for five years and is thinking of marrying. Let me reiterate -- FIVE YEARS! And in the course of a movie-time week, he dumps her and falls for the princess. Of course, Princess Giselle, who was smitten with Prince Edward (whom she had only known for five minutes before falling madly in love), suddenly realizes that Robert is her "true love" even though Prince Edward followed her all the way from cartoon land to NYC to marry her. Damn -- that's just harsh!

But never fear, Disney conveniently smoothed over this awkward situation. It's okay to leave your partners in the dust as long as the jilted lovers fall in love with each other! Yup, Robert's long-time girlfriend follows Prince Edward back to cartoon land and they live happily ever after, of course. Robert is then free to marry Giselle and, of course, they live happily ever after as well. (Sigh.)

Aside from the typical gender stereotypes and unrealistic expectations that Disney normally sells, what is this movie teaching our kids about fidelity, commitment, and building meaningful relationships? This could have easily been a compelling love story without the complications of existing relationships. The jilted lovers don't even make the storyline more interesting.

The bottom line for Disney is that your "one, true love" is out there. You will find him/her. You will be with him/her regardless of the costs. You will live happily ever after. You will never get divorced or become the jilted lover, despite that fact that neither your nor your partner know anything about successful relationships. Yet again Disney is making millions by selling fantasy at the expense of morality. Somebody please tell them that the two are not mutually exclusive.

Over the Top -- or Not

2008-07-09T15:25:00.002-04:00

I am not at all a fan of saggy pants. They are just silly and I find it hard to understand how guys think it's cool to waddle around with their pants around their knees. However, this new Flint, MI police policy is just plain stupid. I highly doubt that they are applying this new interpretation of indeceny laws equally to women. Are they going to arrest females for showing their whale's tails or too much cleavage? (I would seriously love to hear them define "too much" in that respect.) In a city that is notoriously plagued by serious crime and financially strapped (remember Roger and Me?), this is not a good use of scarce city resources. I'd be pretty pissed off if I were a Flint resident.

In Defense of Rotties

2008-07-09T12:03:00.003-04:00

People ask us all the time if Hershey, our Rottweiler pound puppy, is mean or dangerous. The answer is no (unless she feels threatened in some way, which is very rare). Hershey is the sweetest and most sensitive dog we've ever owned. She is incredibly affectionate and she loves kids and other animals. She's been Abby's best friend since she was an infant. She's also adverse to conflict, as best illustrated by the fact that she is a 120-lb dog who regularly gets beat up by our 8-lb, declawed cat.

Despite these claims, people are still wary of her. So today I felt vindicated when my sister sent me this news story about the 10 most aggressive dog breeds. Not only were Rotties not on the list, but Daschunds were number one. My sister's two hotdogs are seriously mean little buggers, so I was not at all surprised. Number two was the Chihuahua. I was bitten by my mom's Chihuahua when I was two and apparently I have not forgiven the breed for that incident.

Expanding Dictionary

2008-07-07T15:28:00.002-04:00

All of you word lovers will be happy to know that Merriam-Webster has added a bunch of new words to the dictionary. While these words have been around for a while, they have to gain sufficient popularity to actually get added to the dictionary. Some of my favorite additions are:

mental health day (I'd like to think that my former colleagues and I helped popularize this one!)
air quotes
racino
subprime (an unfortunate addition)
wing nut (This poor word has been around for over 100 years and is only just now being recognized as legit!)

Great Vacation

2008-07-05T21:08:00.005-04:00

This week we were on vacation, entertaining my sister, brother-in-law, and fabulous niece. The highlight for me was taking Abby to NYC to the American Museum of Natural History. Any kid who has seen Night at the Museum is simply amazed that such a museum really exists. I've been promising a "dinosaur hunt" for almost a year and Abby doesn't let you forget such promises easily. I'm happy to say that the trip was a success. We tracked down many memorable figures from the movie, including Dum-Dum. When the museum closed, we were sitting on a bench outside resting for a bit before we took a walk in Central Park. My sister handed Abby a bottle of water, she took a sip, leaned back on the bench overlooking the park, and proclaimed very sincerely: "Ahh, this is the life!"

Central Park was an added bonus (aside from the fact that we got horribly lost and the New Yorkers were not very helpful with directions). Little did I know at the time that Giselle from Enchanted danced in Central Park. Later in the week, Abby also got to ride a horse for the first time, collect eggs from a real chicken (also named Abby), and -- of course-- she also got lots of quality time with our pets, who she simply adores.

Since I wrote earlier about Bob's sorry state, I thought I should post an update. Here is Bob sitting on Abby's "I Love My Aunt" t-shirt. Thanks to my sister, she has had major reconstructive surgery. She still looks pretty worn, but has "new skin."

Cranky and Venting

2008-06-26T12:17:00.003-04:00

I've been avoiding the blog lately because I've been cranky. There are a lot of little things going on, both personally and professionally, that are really irritating me. I didn't think I could write about them without being bitchy. And then today, after receiving an email that almost made my head explode, I suddenly remembered that I don't care if I'm bitchy. It's my blog and I'll write about whatever the hell I want. One of the reasons why I like blogging is because it is cathartic. When I can transfer the thoughts into words and deposit them somewhere, then I can clear my head to think about other things. So here is a non-exhaustive short list of things currently annoying me:

"Friends" who think that starting an phone call or email with "How are you?" and then proceeding to go on and on about all of the drama in their lives is real communication as opposed to egotism.

Women who won't acknowledge that trading sex for material goods is prostitution. Just because you are white, middle class, and educated and you are (typically) not handling cash doesn't make it less wrong! And, as I've mentioned before, when you're 30-something and don't know better, it is really pathetic.

The fact that I don't get paid this summer. Yes, I love what I do for a living, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't get paid for it. I am working my ass off this summer for the sake of tenure. Yes, yes, I know that the hard work will pay off in terms of gratification and professional success some day. But, today, I have bills to pay. What other profession expects people to work for free?! It's completely exploitative and yet we accept is as part of the mythical honor code of academia. Well, it's bullshit. (Workers of the world unite! -- I still say KM wasn't totally off his rocker.)

I chipped a tooth last week. When I think about all of the money that I have poured into my teeth it makes me want to vomit. It also makes the above point more irritating.

Yet Another Example of Why Economists Should Stick to Their Own Field

2008-06-11T09:29:00.004-04:00

An unfortunate side-effect of Freakonomics -- a book that I have issues with but that I appreciate for its cleverness and popular appeal -- is that economists have been bolstered to continue forays into other disciplines that they know nothing about, produce some kind of odd result that's statistically significant, and then gain unprecedented press coverage for their "brilliance." The infiltration of economists into crime research, without any fundamental knowledge of criminology or sociology, is exasperating. Today's paper highlights just another example of this problem. The headline reads: "Study links unusual names to juvenile delinquency." Their point is that kids with unusual first names are more likely to get into trouble than those with more common names. The article concludes with this quote: "it's not the name per se that causes the juvenile to behave badly, but it's the family background." Really? Well, any intro criminology textbook would have told you that. I actually started to read this paper and got so annoyed that I had to stop so I wouldn't spend the entire day fuming. Somebody please tell me what the point of this line of inquiry is. On second thought, I should save this paper as an example for students of a poorly constructed research question.

*Okay, so the title is misleading in its snarkiness. There is nothing wrong with interdisciplinary research. My point is that you should actually take time to learn something about the field that you weren't trained in before you go "revolutionizing" it with your half-baked ideas and fancy statistics.

Pity Party

2008-06-08T14:15:00.005-04:00

On this hot, humid, and now rainy Sunday afternoon I've decided to clean up some of our photos. I came across these two from Easter that I had meant to share, but never found the time. This one is Oscar -- my mom's 11-year-old daschund who lives with my sister. He is probably the most annoying dog we've ever had -- whiny, clingy, and never satisfied. The miniature, short-haired daschund was the size of a beanie baby when we first got him and was simply adorable. Then for the next 10 years he was spoiled rotten by my mother. The lap dog was her constant companion and he was treated like royalty. The saddest thing about my mom's passing was watching this little dog cope. During her final days he was utterly distraught and then after her death he simply didn't know what to do with himself. We at least were able to process our grief, but his life had been turned upside down with no way for him to understand what was happening. He's now adjusting to his demotion from "prince" to simply "dog" and he's obviously well cared for by my sister and her family, but sometimes I still feel incredibly sorry for him. This picture was taken at Easter when he took refuge with the stuffed bunnies.

This is a picture of Bob, my niece's best friend and constant companion since she was an infant. Bob is a girl and was named by Abby when she was just learning how to talk. All of her other dolls and Barbies have very feminine, Disney-influenced princess names, but Bob has always been Bob. Even though she's now five -- and a "big girl" -- she is still quite attached to Bob. As you can see, she has had numerous reconstructive surgeries, thanks to my sister's sewing skills, but she is still little more than a rag.

Busted

2008-06-01T14:46:00.002-04:00

Pro-jihadist anti-Americans' efforts to subtly gain support for their causes through Rachael Ray's Dunkin' Donuts ad have been thwarted! How dare our enemies try to poison us with fashion!

Wait ... what? ... Rachael Ray? Dunkin Donuts? anti-American?

Yup. That's right. Most of us were apparently too ignorant to realize that Ray was donning a "pro-Palestinian" scarf while hawking coffee. Well, actually it was just black and white paisley, but apparently it looked enough like something Yasser Arafat would wear that the right-wing blogging community rushed to our defenses lest we be brainwashed.

According to one such protector of our fashion sense, Michelle Malkin explained that "Ignorance is no longer an excuse. In post-9/11 America, vigilance must never go out of style." Whew! I feel safer already! Of course, we can be ignorant of the other themes of the ad -- like the exploitation of coffee farmers, the proliferation of disposable plastics that is killing the planet, the unhealthy, chemically induced "food" products, etc. It would be un-American to discuss them, particularly with respect to a company that "protects our immigration laws" and therefore is usually considered ultra-American, except for this little fashion faux pas.

Harsh Review

2008-05-31T11:44:00.002-04:00

I like reading book and movie reviews from good media outlets because of they way they phrase their harshness so eloquently -- something academics rarely even try to do. While I would prefer to have reviews of my work written by someone with poetic style, it wouldn't be worth the price of having them read by a gazillion people all over the world.

Today I was amused by the NYTimes' review of Sex and the City, a movie which I have no intention of seeing given my previous post on this subject. In fact, the review nicely summed up my distaste for the show even before it went to the big screen:

There is something depressingly stunted about this movie; something desperate too. It isn’t that Carrie has grown older or overly familiar. It’s that awash in materialism and narcissism, a cloth flower pinned to her dress where cool chicks wear their Obama buttons, this It Girl has become totally Ick.

Summer Has Begun

2008-05-27T11:02:00.003-04:00

Although the semester ended almost two weeks ago, I was so caught up with end-of-the semester stuff (graduation, grading, conferences, etc.) that it took me a while to really appreciate that summer was here. And let me just say: Welcome! I was so burned out the last couple of months that I just couldn't wait for the semester to end.

We celebrated the beginning of summer with a great Memorial Day weekend. For starters, we headed to the drive-in to see Indiana Jones and Iron Man. I have been anxiously awaiting the new Indy movie for months and I was not disappointed. (Okay, to be honest, it would have had to have been truly awful for me to be disappointed. I have had a crush on Harrison Ford since Star Wars premiered when I was seven and the Indy movies came out when I was becoming fascinated by archeology in my pre-teen years, so I was predisposed to love this movie. Dr. Jones is also a U of C alum, and probably the coolest "person" to hold that distinction.) Iron Man was also enjoyable, although I'm not a huge fan of the superhero movies. Despite all of his personal problems, Robert Downey, Jr. is a pretty remarkable actor.

We also took a trip up to the Adirondacks, which is never disappointing. There will probably be a separate post on that outing. We often talk about other places we'd like to live in the country (not that we're unhappy here, but the nature of my job means that moving is always a possibility), and I have to say it would be very hard for us to live far from mountains again. We were always drawn to them while living in the flatlands of the midwest, and now we're spoiled by being close enough to go to the mountains on a whim. I'm not sure I would want to give that up.

After having the first three-day weekend I've had in a very, very long time, I'm back to the grindstone. Lots of work to do this summer as I'm now at the halfway point of my tenure clock. That sounds daunting, doesn't it?

When Is It Okay to Invade?

2008-05-12T13:34:00.003-04:00

I'm still obsessed with the disaster in Burma/Myanmar, despite other tragedies vying for my attention like the earthquake in China or the tornado deaths in the U.S. With the death toll now over 100,000 (the population of the city of Albany), and likely to rise significantly due to collateral deaths from lack of clean water, food, shelter, and medical supplies, some have begun to speculate as to whether the U.S. should invade* the country to provide humanitarian aid to the dying civilians. I am deeply disturbed by this idea.

On the one hand, it's awful to sit back and watch the death toll numbers rise due to the ignorance and hubris of a corrupt and inept military regime. On the other hand, this kind of policy decision is a really slippery slope. Which crises warrant invasion and which can we ignore? If we invade Burma, why not Sudan or countless other countries where people are dying needlessly? We also can't just swoop in, oust the junta, drop off the Red Cross, and leave the country without a significant investment in rebuilding the country's government and infrastructure. Let's face it -- our efforts at nation-building in Afghanistan and Iraq have hardly been successful. Destabilizing another country without a long-term commitment for rebuilding is probably just as disastrous as not doing anything.

For now, I think the best the U.S. can do is continue working through the U.N. and Burmese allies like China to pressure the junta into doing the right thing. Here are other suggestions for helping the people in Burma through humanitarian organizations.

*The NYTimes republished an opinion piece from 1990 which asked this same question about Burma then. It's sad how little has changed in nearly 20 years. There's also a discussion about this topic on a good legal studies blog called Controlling Authority.

What's in a Name?

2008-05-06T14:47:00.003-04:00

I've been following the cyclone disaster in Myanmar closely today. It is such a terrible tragedy for a country with so few resources to begin with. The current death toll estimate of 22,000 is the size of the city of Ypsilanti, Michigan or Ithaca, New York. It's so hard to wrap my head around destruction so massive and so sudden.

What I find interesting about the coverage of this event is how the two major newspapers that I read regularly refer to the country. The New York Times calls it Myanmar, the name that the military government declared in 1989, while USA Today uses Burma, the previous name. The United Nations recognizes the name Myanmar, but the United States does not. I understand that the U.S. does not want to officially recognize the name change so as not to legitimize the military regime. However, after almost 20 years, I'm not sure that we're really making a statement with this issue any more.

Earth Day

2008-04-22T12:06:00.002-04:00

Given that I haven't blogged in ages, you would think that I would have something intelligent or pithy to say on the topic of Earth Day. But ... no. I'm deathly ill, barely functioning, and counting down the minutes (172) until I can crawl back into bed. The best I could do was to spread the word. Hopefully lots of other people are trying to save our planet today.

Scary Stuff

2008-04-01T14:58:00.003-04:00

Today's "Holy crap! What is wrong with people?!" moment is brought to you by some dumbass from Baltimore:

7-year-old Brings Loaded Guns to School

Although the headline alone is horrifying, thankfully the situation didn't result in a real tragedy. And people wonder why the home school movement is popular!

So Much To Blog About, So Little Energy

2008-03-17T21:46:00.002-04:00

I have a stack of blog post ideas waiting to be finished or written, but I'm too fried. So much to blog about -- The Wire, the latest politician's sex scandal, Tibet, Kosovo, academic stuff, etc., but I just don't have the energy. I was very tempted to write an amusing post today about my morning commute. It's usually quite uneventful, but today I had a very "me" moment. It was funny, but kind of gross, which is why I decided not to share after all.

So why am I writing a post about essentially nothing? Because I am overtired. Today was a long, but productive day. Tomorrow will be a very long day dealing with very stressed out students (it's midterm time). I need to wind down, but my mind is too consumed with everything that I need to finish this week before Spring Break. I am really, truly taking a break this time. Honestly. I swear.

Overheard

2008-03-09T15:49:00.002-04:00

I'm sitting at Panera Bread grading papers. Not far from me is a guy talking on his cell phone. He is obviously a plastic surgeon. He appears to be talking to a colleague. They spent a good 20 minutes talking breasts -- not something you usually hear in Panera Bread. Here are a couple of other tidbits from the one-sided conversation that I heard:

So you do the whole face in one sitting? (Hmmm...)

I'm not sure if that's very safe. (Yikes!)

How many cc's did you say? The phone cut out on me. (Double yikes!)

I'm studying for my certification exams. (Dude! Get off the phone and get studying. I think you may need it.)

Staying Afloat

2008-03-09T13:55:00.002-04:00

I'm a little surprised at how long it's been since I've blogged here. Sometimes I really don't know where the time goes. I've hit that point in the semester where I'm a little worn out, a little overwhelmed, but managing to stay afloat. I have only two more weeks until spring break and I should be able to stay sane until then. So here are some quick updates on what's going on until I can carve out some time for a more meaningful post:

Classes are going well. I'm always a little surprised by that. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. And I'm saying this as I'm grading essay exams, which is one of my least favorite chores.

I have recently been in touch with three important friends from my past who I had lost contact with for a while -- two from my days traveling in Europe and one from high school. It's been great to hear from them again and I really hope to rebuild those friendships. It's also made me very nostalgic for days gone by.

I have not blogged about my fabulous niece in ages. That's because I have lost some of my cool. She's in a very serious Barbie phase and I just can't compete (on so many levels ;-)). My sister did report that her vocabularly is still amazing. She recently described one of her Barbies as "distinguished." When my sister asked her what that word meant, she said "when you look fine in your clothing." Well, I guess the insidious plastic creatures are not killing brain cells.

Gluttony Is Literally a Deadly Sin

2008-02-25T16:54:00.002-05:00

Stop! Just stop with all of the "I can eat more than you can" contests. They are utterly pointless and disgusting. Corporate sponsorship of these events is morally reprehensible and spectatorship is depraved. There is no skill or talent involved in these contests -- just plain gluttony and often stupidity. Case in point -- the guy who died because he had five cupcakes lodged in his throat and he couldn't breathe. Good grief! What a horrible way to go and it was completely preventable (remember all of those "chew and swallow" directives when you were a kid?).

Today is one of those news days that's filled with strange deaths. Aside from cupcake guy, another man was killed by a shark and the woman who couldn't get oxygen on a flight.

Cool Computer Apps

2008-02-24T12:26:00.002-05:00

Sometimes little things really can make a big difference. I've just installed two simple computer applications that are making me very happy. The first is Taskbar Shuffle, which allows you to rearrange how your programs appear in the Windows taskbar. This is incredibly important for me because I keep a lot of windows open at once and I like to keep them in a very specific order at the bottom of my screen. I get very distracted when they are out of order. Yes, I know, I should get over it, but now I don't have to!

The other application was just recommended by Corey. It's last.fm and it creates customizable radio stations. I haven't been using this one for long, but so far it's great. And it's come at a great time for me because I've been very bored with my iTunes collection and not quite satisfied with most Internet radio stations.

Clueless

2008-02-20T10:15:00.002-05:00

On the way home from work Monday I stopped at the local drug store to buy milk and a few other things I needed. When I made my way to the counter there was a new clerk there -- a very chatty 50-ish man. He immediately commented on how I was paying too much for a gallon of milk and it would actually be cheaper to buy 2 half-gallons. I politely told him that if I really wanted to save money I'd buy milk at the grocery store, but I'm paying for the convenience.

Then he rang up my other three items -- a birthday card for my brother-in-law (Sto lat!), a lipstick, and an eyeliner. The total was around $23.00. He stared at the register dumbfounded.

No, that can't be right.

He checked the receipt to make sure he rang it up correctly. He starts babbling about how it's not possible for these four items to cost so much. I, of course, ignore him and run my debit card because I know the total is correct. Finally, I'm afraid he's going to cancel the transaction, so I decide to explain to him that the total is correct because of the makeup items.

NO! How can that be?!? Those little things can't cost that much!

Yes, it's correct. Can you imagine what they would cost at the Estee Lauder counter at Nieman Marcus?

And then I made a hasty retreat as I used up all of the politeness that I had in me at the moment. Really, how clueless can you be? What a luxury to be middle-aged and never have to consider what it costs women to fit into their gender stereotypes. It reminded me of a funny blog post about buying tights written by a female academic that resonates well with the whole White House manifesto regarding no bare legs.

Goings On

2008-02-18T12:42:00.002-05:00

Today is Presidents' Day, one of those "holidays" that I truly don't get. It also coincides with our very brief winter break of two days "off." Basically that just means that I teach one less class this week than usual, but otherwise it's a work week just with fewer people around. I wish I had taken advantage of the time off to go away for a few days, but I decided to "catch up" on work instead, as if that ever really happens. Anyhow, here are today's thoughts during my lunch break blogging:

The lasted USDA beef recall is yet another sign that I should return to vegetarianism. I've really cut back on meat over the last 6 months or so (and I hardly ever eat beef), but I haven't given it up all together mostly because I'm still struggling with protein deficiency. I've also been eating a lot more organic food lately, although I really don't know how anyone with kids could afford to eat organically regularly. We're supposed to be reading Omnivore's Dilemma for our campus reading project this spring and, quite honestly, I'm not looking forward to it. I've been avoiding that book because I think it's going to freak me out.

Kosovo has declared it's independence. Once again my little corner of the world is back in the headlines. Yeah for me! It remains to be determined whether or not this will be good for the Kosovars. This region has suffered extreme violence for years, mainly ethnically motivated, but I'm not completely convinced that "nationhood" is going to solve this problem. Let's hope I'm wrong.

I'm starting to get serious about my book project. I've made tentative plans this summer for a book retreat with a friend. We're going to spend at least two weeks in some nice location to just focus on our respective books. The goal is to find a place that's far away from our daily distractions but not too far from a good research library. So far we're considering Cape Cod/Boston, Madison, and Raleigh. Any other suggestions?

Climate Change

2008-02-13T09:59:00.002-05:00

We recently watched Arctic Tale, which was an enjoyable movie for a number of reasons. The part that stuck with me most, though, was watching the effects of global warming (oops, I mean "climate change") on the arctic wildlife. The footage of natural habitats in this film is really impressive and the fact that this team of cinematographers has been filming the arctic for several years allows you to visualize the changing climate over a relatively short period of (geological) time. The melting of the glaciers is just an unbelievable sight.

Soon after seeing that movie I heard a great story on NPR about how the Maldives is coping with global warming. This tiny group of islands in the Indian Ocean could easily be submerged by rising sea levels. They have been actively engaged in the debate about climate change long before Western countries would acknowledge the problem and they have been quite creative in their solutions. In particular, they are building flood-resistant islands. Not only is this a technological feat, but a political one too. The new islands are being marketed for cleanliness and affordability rather than for safety from an "end of the world" doomsday. It's a refreshing example of human possibility.

Sunday Stuff

2008-02-10T11:38:00.000-05:00

I'm suffering from acute restlessness. This is typical for me at this time of year. I'm tired of spending a lot of time indoors. I'm also bored with Albany. We haven't gone anywhere since the holidays and I'm feeling claustrophobic.

I'm also suffering from a more persistent sense of restlessnes. I haven't been out of the country in a long time. I was scheming to put together a research trip to Europe this summer, but it's probably not going to pan out. The hardest part of balancing my various work obligations and balancing work and personal life is fitting in long-term travel. It's hard for me to justify spending a couple of months out of the country when (a) I have a ton of writing to do that probably won't get done if I'm traveling and (b) I feel bad about leaving my husband behind. At the same time, I study Europe, so it's also problematic not to go there regularly.

I'm reading a great inspirational memoir, Three Cups of Tea, about a mountain climber who nearly dies climbing K2 and then dedicates his life to building schools in the inhospitable terrain of northern Pakistan in thanks to the very hospitable people who saved his life. It is contributing to my general sense of restlessness. While I value what I do for a living and the contributions I make to society (particularly educating America's youth), I often feel a calling to a less traditional path of social change.

To write a book or to not write a book -- that is the current pressing question. Some departments are book departments and some are article departments. I was trained in a book department, but my current place of employment is clearly article driven. It would really be nice if it didn't matter -- they are after all just different forms of scholarship. In reality, it matters a lot and this has become crystal clear in my current position. If I plan to go up for tenure here, it would probably be best to just focus on articles. And yet, I've been brewing a book idea for a while and I can't seem to let it go. I'm leaning toward taking the risk, partly because it's hard to say what kind of department I'll end up in given the fluidity of academia. I'm also stubborn and I don't like catering to institutional constraints that I believe are somewhat arbitrary. If I don't travel this summer, and it looks like I probably won't, then I will likely work on a book prospectus. Come what may.

On a lighter note, I was eager to test out a new internet quiz that's been popular in the blogosphere since I haven't done one in a while. The What Time of Day Are You? quiz turned out to be a disappointment when it declared that I was "breakfasty" when I most certainly am not.

More on the Democratic Race

2008-02-04T10:18:00.000-05:00

Although I'm still supporting Clinton for the Democratic primary, I'm nonetheless impressed by Obama's strength in this race. This latest video clip is a great representation Obama's ability to inspire people and mobilize support. The comparisons of Obama to MLK and JFK are justified and it's been a long time since we've had a leader who could stir us out of our apathy. My concern, though, is that these qualities are great for campaigning, but I'm not sure how well they will translate into actual decision-making in the bowels of Washington or in global politics. It's easy to talk about the need for change and harder to actually implement it. This is where I think Clinton's experience will pay off. The failed health reforms of the 90s painfully illustrated how a widespread desire for change never got off the ground. While Clinton is less exciting than Obama, I think she is more realistic about the types of changes that can be accomplished through the presidency.

When I was a freshman in college I read an article for a psychology class about how college women got more conservative as they aged. I remember being outraged and thinking that would never be me. I actually don't think I've become more conservative, but I do think I've become more pragmatic. If I were a college student today, I would probably be more enamored by Obama than I am today. I'd also be out heartedly campaigning. Nowadays, I'm much more of a realist and less easily swayed by grand ideas and powerful speeches. Change is hard, dirty, frustrating, and long-term. I want a candidate who knows how to get things done in those circumstances.

Gender and the Academy -- Breaking the Silence

2008-02-02T14:14:00.000-05:00

While this topic is near and dear to me, I have been very tempered in blogging about it because I'm supposed to be "behaving"* at work until I get tenure. Let's just say that it's getting increasingly difficult to keep quiet -- not because of things happening in the external environment, but because it is so counter to the essence of my personality that my self-censoring is becoming a psychological burden.

Since coming to Albany I have been involved in more "women's groups" than ever before. I greatly miss the progressive social environment of the University of Michigan where there was generally a heightened awareness of gender (and other) inequalities and where there were a lot of institutional mechanisms in place to address those issues, albeit imperfectly.** I didn't belong to any such groups there because I didn't need to in order to advocate for my own interests, nor did I feel the need to represent women more generally because others were already doing so. That's simply not the case at Albany, so I feel obliged to participate in these groups, despite the fact that I often don't find them personally gratifying.

One reason why I find them dissatisfying is because I often don't understand their purpose or see any concrete actions coming from them. I agree that one positive function of such groups is to create a comfortable environment for networking, socialization, and support. I have nothing against that in principle, but too often these turn into occasions to bitch and gossip, activities best left to friendship networks than professional relationships. I'd much rather spend my "free" time (since many of these activities take place after official work hours) doing things that are more action-oriented, either with respect to personal goals or more organized institutional changes.

I'm not sure what that means for me, yet, in terms of my participation in these groups, but one action that I'm taking is breaking the silence on the blog. Honestly, I doubt that anything I write here would be that incendiary. And quite frankly, if my personal opinions about gender dynamics prevent me from getting tenure, then it really just wasn't meant to be. Thus, there are likely to be more posts on this topic. One in particular is brewing and was the spark for this prelude. However, I'm currently supposed to be working on a manuscript, so I have to stop procrastinating now.

*Part of "behaving" in this context is not overtly challenging the existing power structure, which just so happens to be male-dominated.

**I certainly had my share of "gender issues" working at Michigan, too, including a very opaque glass ceiling, blatant wage discrimination, and inappropriate behaviors among male supervisors and their staff. Nonetheless, the overall environment there was more positive than most.

Obscure References

2008-01-30T14:10:00.000-05:00

Question: Which political leader said this about his own country?

"Uneducated people are easier to govern."

Answer: Saparmurat Niyazov, former president-for-life (read "dictator") of Turkmenistan (that's a country north of Iran, or south of Kazakhstan for those of you who learned geography from Borat), who was not known for his originality, although this was probably a rare moment of straightforwardness on his part.

My research assistant is probably the only person who knows where I read that quote, but the beauty (sadness) of it is its general applicability. (Come on, admit it, you were thinking of an American politician.)

Said research assistant and I are working on an encyclopedia entry about Turkmenistan for a new series called Crime and Punishment around the World. I'm co-editing the Americas volume of the series, but I also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to learn about yet another obscure country for the sake of my own research interests. This one's turning out to be quite interesting.

Ugh!

2008-01-22T20:23:00.000-05:00

For the record, Blackboard has the worst WYSIWYG editor ever! I feel sorry for folks who don't know any html. Is it too much to ask for good course management software?!?! Apparently, it is. (For all you C-Tools users, don't rub it in!)

As you can probably guess from this post, classes start up again this week. I'm teaching two classes that I've taught before, so thankfully I don't have too much prep work to do. I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine again.

On a completely unrelated, but happier, note, I seriously can't wait for the new Indiana Jones movie to come out. I haven't been this excited about a movie in ages! This is my favorite movie series ever and I really hope I'm not disappointed.

The Essence of My Grad School Experience

2008-01-20T22:55:00.000-05:00

I don't blog much about my grad school days because the wounds are just healing and I don't like to dredge up too much of that past. But as time passes, and I have a different perspective being on the faculty side of the experience, I can occasionally look back and laugh, or at least marvel at the bizarre world of the University of Chicago.

Today's trek down memory lane was prompted by a perusal of U of C groups on Facebook. Here are my favorites:

Aaaand, I'm Awkward (yep, they just wear it like a badge)
Keep UChicago Nerdy (as if there's a real opposing force)
I Am Aware of My Own Ongoing Academic Self-Destruction, and Yet I Do Nothing to Stop It (so sad, yet so true)
Manly Men for the Resolution of Personal Disputes by Duels to the Death (and you thought I was kidding when I said Beauty and the Geek was reminiscent of the dating scene in grade school)
UChicago Has Killed My Soul (or would have if I didn't move out of state)
I Want to Mechanically Divide Durkheim's Organic Solidarity (sigh, need I say more?)

If you're really brave and want even more insight into this enigma, you can check out this list of U of C You Tube videos.

I Should Be Happy, But ...

2008-01-16T12:43:00.000-05:00

The deadline to submit papers to this year's sociology meeting was today at 3 p.m. Unlike other conferences where you just submit a 200-word abstract of the research that you hope to finish before the conference, this one requires a full 20-page paper with completed results due 8 months prior to the conference. I find the January deadline hard to meet because there is just too much other stuff going on at the end/beginning of the year. Since I haven't presented a paper there in a while (though I did a poster last year), I thought that it was time to put this conference back on the rotation. I've been working on a paper for a while, but it got sidetracked in Dec. and Jan. by another pressing project. As of last weekend, I thought the chances of finishing this paper were quite slim.

Then I got a renewed burst of energy and thought I'd try once more to get it done. Hey, I've done this before. Lots of work in short periods of time with mounting stress is the hallmark of graduate school. Surely I could put in a little extra time and effort to pull this off. So I spent an insane amount of time on Monday and Tuesday writing this paper. At 10:00 last night I thought I had a decent draft that I would tweak today and submit. It doesn't have to be a perfect paper since I can (and should) revise it before the meetings, but I certainly don't want it to be embarrassingly bad.

Today I cleared off my calendar, locked myself away, and even declined to get on the Internet (very unusual for me) so I could spend the morning working. I just took a break for lunch and checked my email.

The deadline has been extended until tomorrow!

Yes, this is ultimately good news, but damn! Couldn't they have announced that on Monday? I could have worked less than 12 hours yesterday. I could have slept in an extra hour. I could whine about this forever ... Tomorrow, when I'm not completely exhausted, I will be happy that I finished this paper. Regardless of the conference, it needed to get done anyhow, but I am really getting too old for cramming.

A Fascinating Presidential Race

2008-01-13T11:53:00.000-05:00

I'm surprised that I haven't blogged much about the presidential race, even though it is turning out to be one of the most fascinating that I can remember. I can't think of any other major political campaign that has forced Americans to be so introspective and articulate about our identities, beliefs, and policies. And needless to say, there hasn't ever been this level of gender, ethnic, and religious diversity, which is quite refreshing.

Normally I'm much more vocal about my political opinions at this point in the race ... so why not this time around? Thankfully, I don't think it's apathy. In part this is the first time -- in a long time -- that I don't feel desperate as a Democrat. There is no lackluster front runner this time. We actually have a pool of great candidates. While I'm still strongly supporting Clinton at this point in the race, I would be happy to support Obama or Edwards if they were to win the nomination.

I'm also trying to avoid some of the silly gender biases of the debate so as not to inadvertently legitimize them. Seriously, how many words were written/spoken over Clinton's tears? People cry. It's part of being human. Get over it.

Gloria Steinhem wrote a great NYTimes Op-Ed piece last week about Clinton's run for presidency. The title of the article was unfortunately right on target: Women Are Never Front-Runners. She also that nicely summarized why I'm supporting Clinton:

I’m supporting Senator Clinton because like Senator Obama she has community organizing experience, but she also has more years in the Senate, an unprecedented eight years of on-the-job training in the White House, no masculinity to prove, the potential to tap a huge reservoir of this country’s talent by her example, and now even the courage to break the no-tears rule.

Getting Out of a Funk

2008-01-12T12:39:00.000-05:00

This week has been strange. I suppose I should have been happy that it's been around 50 degrees and it's mid-January in Albany. Instead the warm weather has brought a string of grey, gloomy, rainy days that have dragged me down as the week progressed. By late afternoon yesterday I would have paid good money for some sunshine. It probably doesn't help that our house isn't well lit, although I don't have that excuse at the office. Anyhow, there's been a slight upturn in my mood today. I've been trying to exercise more and remember to take my vitamins so maybe that's helping. I've also made some progress on a project that I've been working on all month, so that should make me happier. Tomorrow I plan to talk to my niece on the webcam because it's her 5th birthday. I'm sure she'll cheer me up with tales of today's cupcake birthday party.

Update: Here's the forecast for the week. It explains why I'm feeling better today, but it doesn't bode well for further improvement.

On Doggedness

2008-01-05T13:22:00.000-05:00

I've been reading Frank McCourt's Teacher Man over the break and it's a really enjoyable book. I highly recommend it to anyone who teaches at any level, but it's a fun read for anyone who was ever a student as well. McCourt is reflecting on 30 years of teaching in New York city public high schools, which is an incredible feat in my opinion. After one year of teaching high school in Poland, where teenagers are much more respectful of adults than they are in the U.S., I seriously admire anyone who can face that crowd day after day, year after year, and not go utterly insane. As McCourt described it:

In the high school classroom you are a drill sergeant, a rabbi, a shoulder to cry on, a disciplinarian, a singer, a low-level scholar, a clerk, a referee, a clown, a counselor, a dress-code enforcer, a conductor, an apologist, a philosopher, a collaborator, a tap dancer, a politician, a therapist, a fool, a traffic cop, a priest, a mother-father-brother-sister-uncle-aunt, a bookkeeper, a critic, a psychologist, the last straw.

He envies the college professors who only have to stroll into a class and lecture without having to deal with the personal and emotional lives of their students. I definitely prefer teaching college students over high school students any day, but college professors sometimes perform at least some of the various roles McCourt described above, and I would argue that female professors are expected to do so more than their male counterparts.

But my favorite quote from the book so far is this one:

Doggedness is not as glamourous as ambition or talent or intellect or charm, but still the one thing that got me through the days and nights.

This resonates with how I feel about my career right now. In trying to gauge whether I'll be successful, I'm starting to think that doggedness is the key. Most folks in this business are smart and ambitious, but that's simply not enough. Perseverance, relentlessness, doggedness, and toughness are much more important, at least in the pre-tenure years. We'll see if it pays off. I've been feeling like I've been pounding my head against the wall lately, working on a particular paper that was not coming together they way I had expected. Yesterday, I may have had a breakthrough. Still too early to tell for sure, but doggedness may be my friend this year.

My Fictitious Christmas Letter

2007-12-21T10:41:00.000-05:00

Dear Family,

You may recall that Eddie and I have been married for over 8 years now. You may also remember that I did not change my name when I got married. I realize that in your busy lives this is a trivial matter, but I would think that those of you who made a scene about it at my wedding rehearsal in front of the priest would still recollect that precious moment. For those of you not at the wedding, perhaps you may have noticed our separate names on all of the checks, birthday cards, Christmas cards, and other correspondence we've sent over the years.

Trust me, I understand how you are all busy with your own lives and this minor point may have slipped your attention. However, I also know that you all keep address books with our address and phone number. You are very diligent about keeping track of name changes when someone new marries into the family, when new babies are born, or when folks have remarried. Some of you keep extensive lists of multiple marriages, names of various children and stepchildren, dates of weddings, divorces, etc. And yet, somehow my last name has never been included on these lists. For the family that I married into, I suppose this is just an oversight. For my relatives, I would think that you would still remember the name that I have had all of my life.

Let's just be honest here. You don't approve of a woman who does not take her husband's last name so you simply ignore her brashness. If you continue to call her "Mrs. Edward A." then maybe someday she'll get it through her thick skull that she should not only adopt his last name, but his first name too. Just a little adult peer pressure mixed in with the holiday cheer.

That is never, ever going to happen, so can we please stop this charade? I'm not asking you to agree with my choice, but it would be a nice Christmas gift if you would simply accept, and dare I say respect, my decision as an adult to choose my own name. It may be radical, inappropriate, or disrespectful in your eyes, but it is afterall my decision. I do not impose my beliefs on you. Can you imagine if I mailed all of my Christmas cards with your maiden names on the envelopes? Oi, the scandal! All I'm asking is that you pay me the same courtesy.

Love mixed with a little attitude,
DR. JANET P. STAMATEL (not Mrs. Janet A., nor Mrs. Edward A., nor even Mrs. S.)

It's probably a good thing that I mailed my Christmas cards out before receiving many this year or else I would have been tempted to misbehave.

Detroit -- A Must-See Destination?!?

2007-12-14T13:28:00.000-05:00

So says the NYTimes. For the record, I love the travel section of the NYTimes because of its good writing, great global coverage, and a knack for going off the beaten path. Imagine my excitement when I saw the list of "53 Places to Go in 2008." I love these kinds of lists because they get met excited about traveling and I find exotic places to put on my personal "must-see" list.

The list starts off great -- Laos, Tunisia, Hvar, Prague (one of my favorite places in the world), ... and so on. And then at #40 I see Detroit. Wait. What? Back up. Yup, it really says Detroit. So now I have to read the blurb, anxious to see what new developments have so radically transformed my hometown. The answer is apparently --hotels. Really? The hotels in Detroit are so great that it makes it to the must-see list?!?!? Granted I haven't stayed at the hotels they mentioned, the new ones associated with the casinos, but I cannot possibly imagine that they would be soooo fantastic. And why would you travel somewhere just for the hotels??? The article also mentions the newly renovated Detroit Institute of Arts, which has always been one of my favorite places to see in the city, but I'm not sure that would even qualify it for a list of the best places in the world to go in 2008.

I tried very hard to be a supporter of Detroit when I lived there and even now I can certainly come up with some great things about the area. None of them, however, could compete with a place like Prague. Not to mention all of the horrible, depressing aspects of the city that you inevitably experience ... unless, of course, you never leave your hotel room.

This Just Gets My Goat

2007-12-08T12:20:00.000-05:00

It's bad enough that we're surrounded by the wanton consumerism of the holiday season, but this article about "baby mama gifts" just irritates me beyond belief.* The idea is that husbands have to show appreciation for the pains of their wives' labor through expensive gifts, preferably jewelry. While there's no doubt that women have the unfair share of duties with respect to pregnancy, labor, and childrearing, a pair of diamond earrings does not make things even. All it does is assuage the husband's guilt and show the world what a great guy HE is, thereby taking attention away from both the baby and the new mother. If you really want to thank your partner for bringing your children into the world, then why not help with the process and do your fair share of the work!!!!

*I'm kind of on a kick now about looking up the etimology of odd sayings like "get my goat."

Just Random Stuff

2007-12-06T13:19:00.000-05:00

I was on call for jury duty this week and I have just been released without having gone to court at all. I was strangely relieved even though in principle I have no objections to serving on a jury. I think I was just bothered by the idea of being on call and not knowing when I'd have to cancel my plans to go to court, especially since this was the last week of classes and not the most convenient time for me to be away from work.
I found a new critique of PowerPoint presentations that really tickled me. I blogged about it on my professional web site, but I like it enough to share it here as well. It's called Death by PowerPoint.
I think I finally get Facebook. I didn't have trouble figuring out how to use it, I just didn't get why people were using it. But I've been experimenting with it for a while and now I understand the appeal. Once you get past the "Pimps and Hoes" group invitations, it's a neat tool for building community, even for those of us who are no longer in our 20s. I still find MySpace incredibly annoying, but Eddie has been trying to figure it out. So now you know where else you can find us on the net.
I love clementines. (A completely unnecessary piece of information that I just felt compelled to share.)

The Proof Is in the Pudding

2007-11-25T12:04:00.000-05:00

A common conversation in our household revolves around my complaint that my husband watches too much t.v. and his retort that I spend too much time on the internet. He often calls me an internet addict, but today I proved him wrong. According to the Internet Addiction Test I scored a 42, which is interpreted as:

You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage.

HA! Okay, to be fair, the test was a bit lame. I found it through Wicked Anomie's site and she was more ambitious than I am to give a better critique of the test.

Instead I got diverted into tracking down the saying "the proof is in the pudding."

An Answer for Everything

2007-11-23T20:09:00.000-05:00

I was looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with my four-year-old niece, and of course her parents, but their plans for visiting NY fell through. Instead I had to settle for a web chat during which my niece asked me to come over and play. She understands that we live in different states and we're far away from each other, but she doesn't completely grasp time and distance yet. I explained that I couldn't just come over because I lived too far away. To which she spritely replied, "Well just come tomorrow." If only it were that simple.

We followed up today with a quick phone chat, which isn't usually as lively as a web chat, although today was an exception. We ended with our usual exchange where I say "See you later, alligator." But instead of the expected reply, she answered with "See you tomorrow, cutie pie." I'm not sure where that one came from, but it was funny.

You Know It's Time to Leave Work When ...

2007-11-23T16:31:00.001-05:00

You try to do something very simple FIVE times (like running a "get file" command in SPSS) and you STILL can't get it right!!! Good grief!

Recuperating

2007-11-19T18:31:00.000-05:00

Since returning from the conference in Atlanta on Saturday, I have spent the last two days recuperating. It was a great conference. Professionally I've gotten more out of this conference than any other. I co-authored three papers with graduate students and, thankfully, all three presentations went well. I'm very fortunate to work with ambitious, motivated, and talented graduate students. I also had a series of scheduled and ad hoc meetings regarding various research projects. And, most importantly, I capitalized on several networking opportunities. This has always been the most stressful part of conferences for me since I'd really much rather sit in my hotel room in front of my computer than schmooze with a bunch of unfamiliar academics. Yet as I am strategizing the tenure process, I realize more than ever how important it is for people in the field to know me and my work.

After several weeks of preparation and four very long days of conferencing, I am completely wiped out. I'm glad that it's a holiday week since that will give me some time to shore up energy for the end-of-the-semester push. I definitely have more to say about Atlanta in future posts and I may write more about the conference, depending on how much discretion I choose to exercise. (I am quite tempted to write a post about the top things you should NOT do at conferences. Seriously, sometimes the displays of bad behavior really astound me.)

Coming Up for Air

2007-11-13T11:01:00.000-05:00

Whew! It's been a very long month. I've been working like crazy and I've reached my limit. I had to take some time this weekend to come up for air -- taking care of a million household things that I've neglected, spending quality time with the family, watching t.v., reading for fun. It's like I've had blinders on for the past month and now I'm seeing the world differently.

This was insane. I can't keep it up. Fortunately, I don't think I have to. I'm off to a big professional conference this week and then the semester will wind down for me. December is going to be a writing month, but one that I'm looking forward to. I've gotten some good feedback on my work and I'm really excited about my next manuscript. I should be able to have a solid writing period before taking time off for the holidays. But for now, I'm off to Atlanta.

Sometimes Being Cool is Painful

2007-11-04T20:29:00.000-05:00

Eddie & I pride ourselves on being a cool aunt and uncle. This is pretty easy when the nieces and nephews are little. Now that my oldest nieces are in the pre-teen phase, it's a whole new ballgame. Since we don't see them regularly, it's harder to keep up with their interests. So, in an effort to keep our cool, we watched High School Musical this evening. Wow! Was that painful! Now I know how my mom felt when she took us to see Grease.

Miscellaneous News Items

2007-11-03T16:02:00.000-04:00

While I love the efficiency of Bloglines, I have fallen into a bad habit of checking things to read later and then never finding the time to go back to read them. Today I've decided to catch up on a backlog of news items. Here are some of the interesting tidbits that have been on the backburner:

Cow-killing meteorite sells for $1,554 -- I'm fascinated by the insane amounts of money people are willing to spend on rocks. The meteorite that made the headline is the only one to have caused a fatality, and it was also one of the cheapest rocks at the auction.

Protein a key concern for vegetarians -- I've been very tempted lately to return to vegetarianism (the ovo lacto variety, as I learned in this article), but I have to find a better way of dealing with my severe protein deficiency before I can do so.

Benazir Bhutto -- Although I had been following this story on NPR, I hadn't been able to catch up on all of the details. Bhutto is certainly an interesting and controversial political figure. What deserves mentioning is the fact that she was the first leader of an Islamic country in 1988 and 20 years later we are still seriously debating whether a woman can be president in the U.S. Unbelievable!

Is Dumbledore Gay? Depends on Definitions of ‘Is’ and ‘Gay’ -- The buzz about this little bombshell was certainly amusing, although somewhat pathetic. Who cares? It doesn't matter!

Digging Deep

2007-10-28T16:14:00.000-04:00

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted
One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

Lose Yourself -- Eminem

I'm digging deep for inspiration today as I'm finishing about hour 70 of this 7-day work week, with a similarly hectic week starting again tomorrow. I seriously hope that some day, when I have the security of tenure and a comfortable salary, I will be able to look back and say it was all worth it.

Picture Perfect Day

2007-10-21T19:05:00.001-04:00

Today was as perfect a fall day as you could ask for. With temperatures in the mid-70s and the sun shining brightly, it just doesn't get any better than that. We took advantage of this gorgeous day to drive to Lake George to see the fall colors in the mountains. It was simply great, great, great!

Global Day of Action Against Poverty

2007-10-17T09:39:00.000-04:00

Today, October 17, is the Global Day of Action Against Poverty.

Here are five simple things that you can do to recognize this important day:

1.) Sign the call for action -- encourage world leaders to be committed to the fight against global poverty
2.) Learn more about the UN Millenium Goals
3.) Adopt the white band
4.) Stand up and speak out
5.) Learn how world poverty is related to gender inequality

Things I Would Blog About If I Weren't So Damn Tired

2007-10-16T22:50:00.000-04:00

the Armenian genocide
why gratuitous hugs annoy me
how critical thinkers can be so uncritical of their own actions
dying friendships
midterm burnout ... it's not just for students

The ONE Campus Challenge

2007-10-14T11:50:00.000-04:00

One of the things that I miss most about UM is that is is an active campus. Students are eagerly involved in lots of social and political issues (sometimes to extremes). UA is much more subdued in that respect, so this is my attempt to help change that. I've been a supporter of the ONE campaign for a while now, but they have just started a new public awareness campaign to get college students involved in global social issues.

ONE, the nonpartisan campaign to end poverty and fight HIV/AIDS globally, has started a new promotion to engage college students in this cause. The ONE Campus Challenge is a competition for college campuses to raise awareness for the ONE campaign. Joining the challenge is simple and schools earn points for membership alone. Additionally there are a number of things that students, faculty, alum, and other school supporters can do to earn points for their school. The challenges are geared toward education and awareness and vary in level of difficulty. One of the easy ways to earn points for your school is to blog about ONE, so this is part of my contribution to the effort. It’s a worthy cause that does not require a lot of time or effort to support. You don't have to be a member of any particular college to participate; you can sign up as a friend of a student or faculty member.

Recovering

2007-10-09T21:45:00.000-04:00

I had oral surgery on Friday which pretty much killed the weekend. It was necessary to fix an ongoing problem, but it was disgusting and traumatic so I'll skip the details. I don't have a lot of patience for being sick, but this knocked me out for a few days. So I spent the weekend sleeping a lot, watching all of the first season of 30 Rock on Netflix online viewing, and sporting a very chipmunk-like look. The worst part about the recovery was not being able to talk much or laugh at all. The latter is a pretty big problem since laughter is a staple of our marriage. Eddie did his best to refrain from cracking jokes, but it was hard. On Monday he had a truly "Eddie moment" which probably would have caused me to break some stitches from laughing so hard if I had actually witnessed it. As it was, the retelling of the story caused me to take an extra pain pill. It's too crass for me to blog about, but I'm sure if you ask Eddie he'll be happy to retell the story in full dramatic fashion.

Writing Totems

2007-10-04T15:41:00.000-04:00

I'm embarking on a new manuscript which I'm pretty excited about. Most of the analyses are done and I have an outline for the paper. Now I'm getting ready to write, so I have pulled out my writing totems. I have a very strict set of conditions under which I write well. I used to fight them and think that they were silly and constrained me from writing more spontaneously, but now I accept them and realize that I write well when I just give in to my little idiosyncrasies and that I am easily distracted without them. In particular, I handwrite all of my work and later type it. I need to write on a hard surface and I have to use lined paper (just like in grade school). I prefer special pens for the job, typically multi-colored gel pens. And it helps to have the slinky nearby to keep my hands busy during the "thinking" moments. One of the few advice books about academia that I like also encourages writers to embrace their rituals and totems. This is the same author who advocates that writing for 30 minutes a day will be sufficient for scholarly productivity. I haven't adopted that strategy yet, although I try not to go for too long without writing because it's easy to lose momentum.

A Sappy "Girly" Moment

2007-10-03T21:55:00.000-04:00

In honor of our 8th wedding anniversary Eddie and I pulled out our wedding video, which we haven't watched in a few years. That video is a surefire way to make me cry. It used to be the case that I would only cry during the vows. There is something about the purity and simplicity of those words that is remarkably powerful. But now the whole damn video makes me cry. Some special people who were at our wedding are no longer alive, including both of our mothers and my godfather, and it's bittersweet to see them as they were on that particular day. It's also really interesting to notice the changes in other people's lives as well -- the dancing toddlers who are now preteens, the "kids" who now have kids of their own, the couples that were together but are no longer ... .

Tweaked

2007-10-02T21:36:00.000-04:00

I just received an email from an undergraduate student asking for information about a course I'm teaching next semester. I'm happy to provide that information since our course descriptions aren't terribly helpful, but this was the first time here that an undergraduate has addressed me by my first name and it tweaked me. They occassionally use "Ms." or "Miss" which is also annoying, but at least it's polite. I don't believe I know this student (although he didn't provide a last name so it's hard to tell), but even if I did know him my undergrads do not call me by my first name. At first I was going to ignore it, but it got under my skin. It came across as presumptuous and disrespectful, although I think it was probably just a careless informality.

I'm also bothered by the fact that it tweaked me because it makes me feel elitist. On the one hand we're all adults so it seems fine for everyone to be on a first name basis. My co-workers at my last job didn't call me "Dr." even if they were younger or were still in school. And I actually prefer if my grad students use my first name because I consider them more as colleagues than students. But for some reason it's different for undergrads in the classroom setting. While the title adds distance between faculty and students, it also helps to establish respect and authority. I haven't had any teaching problems yet (knock on wood) but introducing that level of informality into the classroom makes me nervous. Anyhow, in my reply to this student I added a diplomatic line about using proper titles as a courtesy to faculty. I felt the need to make my point, but I didn't want to make a big deal about it.

The Slippery Slope of Addiction

2007-10-01T23:29:00.000-04:00

According to my Diet Coke rules I'm not allowed to have a fix once I get home from work, which means that I don't keep any in the house in order to avoid temptation. It also means no Diet Coke on the weekends unless we go out to eat or I go to work, which happens pretty often this time of year. I didn't go to the office this weekend because I had an upset stomach on Saturday and we had company on Sunday. I broke one of the golden rules on Saturday and bought a 2-liter of Diet Coke because the carbonation would quell the stomach problem (yes, so would Pepto or lots of other things). Then on Sunday we had another 2-liter leftover from our barbecue and I certainly couldn't let that go to waste. So I spent the weekend consuming much more caffeine than I normally would at all kinds of odd hours. Now it's late Monday evening and I'm dying for a fix ... seriously jonesing ... and there's still some left in the fridge. If I was smart I'd poor the rest down the drain, but that would be sacrilegious in my book, so I'm using the blog to shame myself into sticking to the rules.

Thank God for C-Sections

2007-09-27T13:31:00.000-04:00

Siberian woman's 12th child weighs in at 17 pounds

Yikes! I don't know if I'm more surprised by the fact that it's her 12th child or the fact that it weighed 17 pounds!

The Asterisk Will Be Memorialized

2007-09-26T17:34:00.001-04:00

I guess I wasn't the only one underwhelmed by Barry Bonds. The guy who bought Barry Bond's homerun record-breaking ball for over $700,000 is having it branded with an asterisk and then sent to the Hall of Fame to reflect Bonds' tainted record. Too funny.

Successes

2007-09-25T10:22:00.000-04:00

The mantra for success at research universities is publish, publish, and then publish some more. Teaching is given a token nod, but readily dismissed. ("Sure, you're a good teacher, but that won't get you tenure.") For those of you not in academia this is probably distressing given how much we pay for college educations; nonetheless, it's true. I'm bothered by this attitude because it assumes that you can only do one well and that you have to consciously choose to pursue research at the expense of teaching. I'm still clinging to my naive belief that you can do both well and that you shouldn't have to choose between them; although I'm realistic enough to know that the only thing that will really count in my tenure evaluation is research.

I have recently had a string of successful events with students that have bolstered my belief that I really shouldn't have to choose between the two. I finished my first paper co-authored with a graduate student, who I met through teaching. One of my undergraduate students won an international paper competition with a research paper that she wrote for my class. I also had the research/teaching work that I did with a freshman recognized by the university. Some will say that only the first of these accomplishments will help me get tenure, and they are right. But student successes are one of the great joys of this occupation that too many people miss because of their quest to get tenure via publications alone. Three years from now we may be laughing at my naivete if I don't get tenure, but for now I'll enjoy these successes for the sake of my students rather than my own career objectives.

Things That I Just Don't Get

2007-09-19T09:19:00.000-04:00

I've been down on the blogosphere lately. I found myself getting really annoyed at many of the blogs that I had been reading regularly. They're typically academic blogs and I got tired of the egotistical posing. I haven't given up on them all together, but a serious purging of my Bloglines subscriptions made me feel better.

I also haven't been writing much lately because I've been preoccupied. The homefront has kept me pretty busy these last few weeks. Additionally I've been thinking about some serious professional issues that are not bloggable. I should qualify and say that I shouldn't be blogging about them in an effort to keep up the pretense that I will behave myself until I'm tenured.

So while I sort out a few things, I've decided to blog about a fairly benign topic -- things that I just don't get:

John Mayer -- He's sooooo bland.
Toxic personalities -- How is it that some people who appear to move in normal social circles (jobs, families, etc.) seem to have completely skipped the entire socialization process and suffer no apparent repercussions?
O.J. Simpson -- Why do people still care?
Facebook -- I think I'm just too old for this one.
The Emmys -- A celebration of mediocrity.

Humpty Dumpty

2007-09-15T11:20:00.000-04:00

has been put back together again. Ed had knee surgery yesterday and he's fine. It'll be a while before things are back to normal, but he's happy to have this part over. As for my other patient, Brittany, she has an inner ear infection that she can't seem to shake. Not only does it bother her, but she also can't hear very well now (or else she's become very good at ignoring me).

Too Funny

2007-09-13T12:07:00.001-04:00

Flashback to the 80s

2007-09-10T20:58:00.000-04:00

This evening I'm listening to the "All 80s Metal 24/7" internet radio station. It's pretty amusing to hear all of the songs that were popular when I was a teenager. I still like some of them, and others are so bad that they're funny. Quiet Riot's "Bang Your Head" brought back some funny memories -- cruising Gratiot, partying on Belle Isle, and AquaNet. Do they still make AquaNet or has the FDA banned it now? That stuff's totally toxic.

I was inspired to tune into this station after trying to buy some fall boots this evening. Talk about 80's inspired -- pointy toes and pointy heels. No thanks! Though I won't succumb to 80s fashion, I'll continue to enjoy my musical flashback. Now they're playing the Scorpions "Rock You Like a Hurricane."

The Dog Park

2007-09-03T14:01:00.000-04:00

We recently learned of a dog park in Albany where the pups can run around off leash with other dogs. We've never been to one before, but since Brittany is slowing down we thought it would be a good idea to let Hershey play with other dogs to burn off all of the excessive energy that she has. Yesterday was the first trip to the park and they loved it. The only problem was that there were no dogs there! We're going to try again during the week right after work. Still they had fun checking out the area.

You can see from the top picture that Brittany looks happy and healthy. She has perked up a lot during the last week or so, but she still has her slow days. So as not to be accused of favortism, here's a picture of Hershey as well. She's hard to photograph because she tends to rush toward you and the camera (and subsequently slobber all over it).

Blindsided

2007-09-02T13:42:00.000-04:00

The college football season has just snuck up on me. I've been eagerly awaiting fall, the new school year has started, Eddie and I have been talking a lot lately about how we miss the "Big 10" environment this time of year ... and yet I forgot about football season. It didn't occur to me that the season started on Saturday until I was heading out the door and heard that Michigan was playing Appalachia State. I was tempted to turn back into the house to watch the game and then I thought "Hmmm, Appalachia State is going to get slaughtered, so I'll wait for the 'real' season to start next week." Well, I guess I should have stayed home because that was probably the game of the season. Not only was it a stunning loss, but it happened in the Big House. I think I probably would have cried if I was at the game that day.

A Sobering Reminder

2007-08-31T13:50:00.000-04:00

Given our typically short collective memories, I sometimes struggle with how to convince people of the relevance of my academic work. Why should we care about Eastern Europe now that the Cold War is long over? CNN has a compelling story about how some people are still experiencing the effects of that period. It's a sobering reminder that the consequences of political policies often outlive the policymakers (and in this case, the political regimes) that made them. It's also quite a different look at Kazakhstan that what you might have seen in Borat.

Poser

2007-08-28T22:12:00.000-04:00

There's an article on Inside Higher Ed that's getting a lot of folks riled up. Some assistant professor wrote "The Professor’s Ten Commandments, Thanks to Notorious B.I.G." It's his list of 10 things that (new) faculty should know before starting the new school year. The advice is pretty run of the mill, but the buzz surrounds his use of profanity and his attempt to apply rap lyrics to academic life.

Frankly, I disliked the article because the advice is horrible. Most of it is common knowledge (e.g., "protect your time"), so no points for insightfulness. The rest is just bad advice from someone who has a horribly jaded opinion of academia and therefore is not the best person to be giving such advice in this public forum. The "rules" tell you not to talk about your academic work to other academics, not to trust your colleagues, and not to "believe your own bullshit" (i.e., the stuff you teach in classes). Wow! And I thought I was cynical. This is a lame attempt at trying to be different and edgy by showing that you listen to rap (which is pretty mainstream these days) and that you are comfortable with profanity (hard to find someone who isn't). Two thumbs down for the article itself, although the comments are somewhat amusing.